Right from the start, key project stakeholders typically have a vision of what the final solution will look like. Unfortunately, their visions often vary from person to person, conflict with each other, and were formed before analysis was done to determine what the business truly needs and what existing and/or new technology options are available. To resolve this conflict, a conceptual business solution should be developed, after sufficient analysis, to tell the story of how a proposed solution is likely to look. Reaching agreement on the conceptual business solution provides significant benefits to the project by:

Showing how business and technology will come together to deliver the project’s intentions.

Setting a baseline for all subsequent design decisions and detailing.

Allowing the solution concept to be evaluated including cost benefit analysis and build vs. buy decisions.